Issued by Christina Teichmann on behalf of the FW de Klerk Foundation on 10/06/2025

On 26 May 2025, Christina Teichmann, Deputy Chairperson of the FW de Klerk Foundation, and Christo van der Rheede, The Foundation’s Executive Director, met with the CDU Parliamentary Group of Lower Saxony for a briefing in Cape Town during their visit to South Africa. The meeting was arranged and hosted by the Cape Town office of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), a German political Foundation affiliated with the CDU in Germany and long term partner of the FW de Klerk Foundation.

The German delegation spent their one-week visit to South Africa meeting with representatives from political, business and civil society organisations in order to get a better understanding of the current socio-economic and political landscape of the country. The programme also included a trip to the Eastern Cape, which is the partner province of Lower-Saxony, as well as a visit to the Volkswagen plant in Kariega.

Ms Teichmann and Mr. van der Rheede informed the delegation of the Foundation’s activities and why its work in promoting and protecting the South African Constitution is of such importance for the democratic future of the country.

The briefing further focussed on the various challenges the country is grappling with, such as a stagnant economy, a high unemployment rate, the growing gap between the rich and the poor and last, but not least, the unacceptable high levels of crime. The subsequent discussion focussed on the growing threat of populism and a deepening social divide that both countries experience, as well as questioning how best to deal with these concerning issues.